Hingham to consider hunting regulations

HINGHAM – The conservation commission will hold a public hearing Monday night on regulations that would reopen conservation areas to bow hunting.

“We’re interested in hearing from everyone who has something to say on this,” Conservation Officer Abby Piersall said. “We’re crafting something that we hope will work in the long term here.”

Earlier this year, town meeting voted to allow hunting on conservation lands under regulations developed by the conservation commission.

Bow hunting for turkey and deer on conservation land was allowed starting in 2006, but the situation changed last year after the commission discovered that town bylaws prohibited hunting.

Hunting is seen as a way to control the turkey and deer populations.

“Development sort of pushed them out of their habitat, and there are no natural predators,” Piersall said, talking about deer.

Police reported two deer struck by motor vehicles in as many days in town last week, one on George Washington Boulevard and the other on Whiting Street.

On July 9, a deer crashed through the window of a North Weymouth liquor store.

Piersall said the town issued about 40 bow-hunting permits per year when that kind of hunting was allowed.

The draft regulations have been developed with hunters and the police department.

State laws prohibit hunting within 500 feet of any occupied building and 150 feet from any road.

The town proposal would ban hunting within 150 feet of any designated walking trail. Hunting would only be permitted from tree stands, and hunters would be required to spend two hours per year helping maintain conservation lands.

“It’s so folks are really invested in the land they’re hunting on,” Piersall said.

In addition to having a valid state license, hunters would have to obtain a town hunting permit.

Under the proposal, hunting would be allowed in six areas: Foundry Pond, Triphammer Pond, the Plymouth River Complex, McKenna Marsh, Old Swamp River and More-Brewer and Brewer Reservation.

After hearing opposition from residents, the Hanover Conservation Commission in February rejected a proposed expansion of conservation areas that would be open to hunting.

Jason Zimmer, a district manager of the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, said at the Hanover meeting that there has not been a reported non-hunter accident involving a bow and arrow in at least a century.

The Hingham Conservation Commission meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at town hall, 210 Central St.